Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The machinations
between Nucky Thompson and Gyp Rosetti continued, while Gillian Darmody went
even crazier during episodes 6 and 7 of “Boardwalk Empire’s” third season. However, I’m going to examine the
intersections between Richard Harwood and significant historical events during
these two hours.

Harwood
met Jimmy Darmody in Chicago during season 1.
Like Darmody, Harwood was a World War I veteran and while Jimmy suffered
life-altering psychological damage from his tour in Europe, Harwood was
physically disfigured while serving as a sharpshooter. He came back with Jimmy to Atlantic City and
is now helping take care of Darmody’s son following his death at Nucky’s hands in
the season 2 finale.

In
episode 6, “Ging Gang Goolie,” Harwood spends time with other veterans at an American
Legion hall. Veterans formed the Legion,
which would become one of the most important veteran’s groups on the 20th
century, following their return from Europe.
After an older veteran of the Philippines fights in an amateur boxing
match at the hall, Harwood assist him.
The older vet has been unable to go on after his son’s death in the
Great War.

Striking
up a friendship (or perhaps something more) with the older veteran’s daughter,
he spends Easter at their home with other former soldiers in episode 7, “Sunday
Best.” The older vet criticizes the
Harding Administration, telling the others that he voted for Eugene Debs in the
1920 election. Another vet retorts, “You
voted for a Bolshevik!” “Debs is a
socialist,” corrects Harwood.

Indeed,
Debs was the leader of the American Socialist Party throughout the peak of its electoral
clout in the first two decades of the 20th century. Running for president five times under its banner,
Debs won a high of nearly one million votes, including six percent of the
popular vote, in the 1912 election. He
strongly opposed American entry into the First World War, believing the country
was fighting on behalf of the large banks that had loaned significant sums to
the Allied Powers.

He
continued to be outspoken during the war, urging young men to resist the
draft. As a result, Woodrow Wilson’s administration
prosecuted him under the Espionage Act, one of the draconian measures the
federal government used to crack down on dissent during the war. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Debs ran for
president for a final time from jail in 1920.
It’s likely the older vet supported Debs because of his strong opposition
to a conflict that led to his son’s death.
President Harding commuted Deb’s sentence and he was released in 1921.

After
a slow start, the pace of the season is picking up a bit. Still, the emotional resonance of the
conflicts between Eli and Jimmy during the first two seasons is still missed.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

As another political season comes to its
conclusion, it makes sense to reflect on the impact of comedy on politics. Today, political satire can been virtually everywhere
on television, most adroitly on “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” Once
upon a time, though, “Saturday Night Live” was the dominant source for political
commentary on television.

Premiering in 1975, “SNL” and its “Not-Ready-For
Prime Time Players,” represented the more cynical zeitgeist of the post-Vietnam/Watergate
era, when there was little reluctance to skewer our national leaders. “SNL” quickly played an important role in the
first election during its nearly four-decade run, the 1976 contest between
President Gerald Ford and Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia.

Though only on the show for one season, Chevy
Chase made an indelible impression in portraying Ford. Though the former University of Michigan
football player was one of our most athletic presidents, Chase took advantage
of a pair of televised stumbles by Ford to create a view of the president as a
bumbling leader. Interestingly, Chase
made no attempt to impersonate Ford’s voice or other mannerisms.

With original producer Lorne Michaels absent for
several seasons in the early-to-mid 1980s, “SNL” didn’t engage in much political
commentary. But when he returned for
season 11, the show produced some of its best material. One of its famous political sketches came when
Phil Hartman portrayed Ronald Reagan during the middle of the Iran-contra
scandal. The “Gipper” famously had an
image as a genial leader who left the details to his subordinates. In Hartman’s
skit, Reagan plays a grandfatherly role in public while secretly masterminding
every detail of the arms-for-hostages agreement in private.

Of course, Dana Carvey’s masterful take on George
H. W. Bush remains the gold standard for political impersonations. By exaggerating Bush 41’s mannerisms and
voice, Carvey captured the essence of his persona. Indeed, when people try to do impersonations
of the elder Bush today they are simply imitating Carvey—whether they realize
it or not.

While both Hartman and Darrell Hammond did a fine
job as Bill Clinton, “SNL” truly returned to the center of the national water
cooler in the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Hammond’s portrayal of Gore in the first
debate, with his constant references to the Social Security “lockbox” made the
term a national punch line. Gore’s
advisers made him watch the skit to show make him aware of the image of his
public persona. Will Ferrell’s W was
also impressive and his invocation of “strategery” as the center of his political
philosophy so reflected Bush’s own mangled syntax that many actually believe he
said it.

2008 may have marked the high point for “SNL,”
with several shows making a significant impact on the dialogue of the
campaign. Hilary Clinton referenced a skit
mocking the media’s fawning coverage of Obama during one of their many
debates. Though Fred Armisen struggled a
bit with his Obama, Amy Poehler’s Hilary was excellent.

Still, Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin was probably the
most impressive “SNL” political character since Carvey’s Bush 41. Clearly aided by the physical similarity
between her and the Alaska governor, Fey also captured her voice and
mannerisms. It became difficult to
discern between the two.

You can’t win every election and this campaign
has been a bit disappointing for the long-running show. Furthermore, younger viewers are increasingly
moving away from it for fresher programs.
Still, “Saturday Night Live” has been a key part of our politics since
the disco era and remains so today.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Hard
as it is to believe, this fall marks the 25th anniversary of the
premiere of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). While many doubted that “Star Trek” could
continue without its original cast and characters, “TNG” became a runaway television
hit that propelled the franchise into the 1990s and 21st century.

Debuting
on NBC in 1966, the original Star Trek (“TOS” for “The Original Series”) was
clearly a product of the Cold War. As
played by William Shatner, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise was
a JFK-like man of action, frequently engaging in fistfights and space battles, as
well as a womanizer who seemed to have an old flame in every port/planet. Indeed, “TNG” writer Ron Moore described “TOS”
as a ”morality play, with Capt. James T.
Kirk as a futuristic John F. Kennedy piloting a warp-driven PT-109 through the
far reaches of the galaxy.” (NYT, September 18,2006) Though humanity and several other species had
joined together in an UN-like “Federation” of planets, they still faced an
enemy in the form of the evil Klingon Empire, a warrior-like race that served
as an allegory for the Soviet Union.

When “Next
Generation” started in syndication in the fall of 1987, geopolitics had changed
with the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev gaining power in the Soviet Union and
implementing his dual policies of perestroika (economic liberalization) and
glasnost (political openness). Though no
one could have imagined how rapidly it would conclude, the Cold War was winding
down, with the Berlin Wall falling and Soviet Union collapsing during the
show’s seven-year run. Reflecting these
historic events, “TNG” portrayed a future where there was peace between the Federation
and the Klingons, with Mr. Worf (Michael Dorn), a Klingon officer, serving
aboard the Enterprise. Captain Jean-Luc
Picard, played by the then-unknown Patrick Stewart, was more of a diplomat than
Shatner’s Kirk, looking for non-violent solutions to interplanetary disputes. Though Stewart became a sex symbol, Picard
was no Kirk when it came to women, reflecting the rise of feminism in the
intervening years. He rarely had romantic
relationships, though there was persistent sexual tension between him and
longtime friend, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden).

Though
the show was supposed to focus on the ensemble cast, as opposed to the Big Three
of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in “TOS,” Picard and android Commander Data (Brent
Spiner), and to a lesser extent, Lt. Worf, became the center of gravity of the
action on “TNG.” The other characters,
most notably First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), were not
particularly interesting.

Though
the show quickly became a ratings success, it did not really hit its creative stride
until the season 3 finale, “The Best of Both Worlds, ” when the Federation’s arch-enemy,
the Borg, takes Picard hostage and assimilates him into their collective. When the season ended, the Borg are poised to
attack Earth and Picard’s fate is unclear.
The suspense would be resolved in the fall with the planet emerging safe
and Picard rescued, and the success of “TNG” guaranteed. The program would run until 1994 and four
more films starring Stewart and his cast mates would follow between 1994 and
2002 (though only “First Contact,” (1996) which also centered around a Borg
invasion, was particularly good).

The
success of “TNG” ensured the “Star Trek” franchise would not end with Kirk and
Spock. Three more television shows
followed and though none reached the ratings heights of “TNG,” new episodes of
“Star Trek” would air until “Enterprise” went off the air after only four
seasons in 2005.

Though
I thought “Enterprise’s” cancellation would mark the end of “Trek,” J.J.
Abram’s reboot was a major hit when it premiered in 2009 and a sequel will
follow in the summer of 2013. Still, he
would never have had the chance if “The Next Generation” hadn’t shown that the
franchise could “live long and prosper” without its original actors.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ben
Affleck’s “Argo” completes the makeover he began when he directed the
critically praised “Gone Baby Gone” in 2007.
Finally banishing any lingering memories of “Bennifer” and “Gigli,”
Affleck’s third outing as a director is a mature, adult film that will likely
draw Oscar attention. While I enjoyed
the movie, it was weakened by the writers’ bizarre need to embellish an already
dramatic story to the point it strained credulity. A rare mix of history and thriller, “Argo”
depicts the CIA’s effort to rescue six American diplomats who escaped the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran when Iranian demonstrators seized it in November 1979.

The
movie begins with a brief but accurate review of U.S./Iranian relations in the
years before the Iranian Revolution.
After reformist president Mohammed Mossadegh was elected in 1951, the
United States and Great Britain conspired to engineer a coup to restore the
Shah to power in 1953. Upset that
Mossadegh had nationalized Western oil holdings in Iran, the operation marked
the beginning of a quarter-century of American backing of the repressive
Shah. U.S. support for the Iranian
secret police, which enforced the Shah’s harsh rule, further estranged average
Iranians from the American government. Though
the country grew wealthier because of its oil, the government and its corrupt cronies
pilfered most of the riches.

This tension
culminated with the popular uprising that led to the overthrow of the Shah in
1979. Initially, the new government included
a broad-based coalition of Iranian factions, but Islamists led by Ayatollah
Khomeni eventually gained control of the new regime.

Angered
when the Carter Administration allowed the Shah to come to the U.S. for medical
care, Iranian “students” took over the embassy on November 4, 1979. The seizure played a key role in Khomeni’s consolidation
of power and is impressively reenacted by Affleck. The six diplomats who escaped were given
refuge by the Canadian ambassador, and they hid in his residence for the next
three months, unable to leave the compound.
Though major news outlets were aware of the situation, they stayed quiet
to protect them.

The
film shows the anger and frustration of ordinary Americans over the Carter
Administration’s inability to retrieve the hostages. Coming after the twin blows of Vietnam and
Watergate, the 444-day ordeal only reinforced the sense of malaise and decline
that pervaded the U.S. during the late 1970s.

More
subtly, “Argo” captures the overall climate of America in the era. The hostage crisis is the first major news
event I really remember and the film offers the audience a window into the
changes in American society over the last three decades. For instance, the movie depicts almost as
much cigarette smoking as in an episode of “Mad Men,” reflecting how the
percentage of Americans who smoked hadn’t fallen dramatically since the Surgeon
General’s report of 1964. In an era long
before cell phones, every character uses landlines and a rotary phone makes an appearance.

Contemporary
news accounts from Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, and Ted Koppel appear
throughout the film, reminding us of an era before cable and the Internet, when
ABC, NBC, and CBS and their evening news programs remained the dominant sources
of information for most Americans.
Indeed, Koppel’s nightly special, “America Held Hostage,” contributed to
the sense of crisis and eventually became a regular program—“Nightline.”

Of
course, ”Argo” is that unique phenomenon—a triumphant tale of the hostage
crisis. While the six diplomats who escaped
were rescued, the remaining 52 were held by Iran and by extension, the whole
nation was held hostage. President Carter
ordered a rescue mission, known as “Desert One,” which failed disastrously,
with eight American soldiers dying after two helicopters collided in the
Iranian desert. Unable to win the
hostages’ release, Carter lost badly to Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980
elections. After negotiating tirelessly
during the transition period, Carter finally reached an agreement for the
freedom of the hostages. In a final
attempt to humiliate Carter, Khomeni held their plane in Tehran until after
Reagan had taken the oath of office.

At
the end of the film, Carter’s voice is heard describing why the story had to
remain secret, even though revealing it might have helped his chances for
reelection in 1980. Still, the rescue
mission may yet have one final legacy—an Oscar nomination for best director for
Ben Affleck.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Eli
Thompson is released from prison and Nucky’s rivalry with Gyp Rosetti
accelerated in episodes 2 and 3, but the intriguing historical angle came from
a subplot involving Nucky’s African-American ally, Chalky White. His family reveals the class divisions that
emerged in the North as more and more Southern blacks moved to the region
during the 1920s and beyond.

While
Chalky’s wife and kids are educated and firmly part of the black middle class,
Chalky is illiterate. Last season, we
saw some subtle tension within the family because of this dynamic. This split comes to the forefront when his
daughter’s would-be doctor boyfriend asks him for permission to marry her.

With
European immigration cutoff because of World War I, Northern industrialists
recruited black labor from the South.
Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender also played a pivotal role in
this effort, urging their southern brethren to make the journey to the
“Promised Land.” Black populations in
cities such as New York, Detroit, and Chicago grew considerably.

While
Northern blacks encouraged the migration, tensions emerged when the newcomers
arrived. Southern blacks were often very
deferential to white people, frustrating the older residents. The newcomers’ evangelical worship seemed
strange to Northern blacks raised in more reserved Protestant churches. Chalky hints that her wife’s father was not
thrilled when he initially met him, in part due to these kind of regional differences.

Chalky’s
kids mention both jazz music and the poet Claude McKay. Both represented key elements of black
culture during the 1920s. A
distinctively African-American form of music, jazz emerged during the decade,
particularly in New Orleans and Kansas City.
McKay’s poetry was part of the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing of
black culture that occurred as a result of the greater freedom experienced by
Northern blacks.

By
episode 3, we continue to see echoes of the “Godfather” series in the show. Nucky is experiencing guilt over shooting his
surrogate son Jimmy Darmody at the end of season 2. This seems a clear parallel to Michael
Corleone’s guilt over ordering the death of his brother Fredo in “Godfather
II.”

Not
so sure about the show’s direction at this point. Rosetti doesn’t appear to be an engaging
villain; he is simply so insecure that he takes an offense at any comment,
making Joe Pesci’s character in “Goodfellas” look restrained by comparison.